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NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing posted a 5.0/12 (8.1 million viewers) on Sunday for the race from Talladega. Though that’s down -12 percent from last year’s 5.7/13 for the same race, Sunday’s telecast was the top-rated event of the weekend, and was FOX’s highest-rated and most-watched NASCAR event in nearly two months. Sunday’s race opened with a 4.4/12 (6.9 million viewers), and grew steadily throughout the race peaking at a 6.6/15 (10.8 mill). Season-to-date, NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing on FOX is averaging a 5.5/11 (9.2 million viewers), down -13 percent from last year’s 6.3/13, but remains the highest-rated and most-watched sport in season. |
These figures reinforce a downward trend of viewers watching the NASCAR events since the beginning of the season. Early season forecasts, in spite of the ailing economy, felt that TV ratings should be better.
They were based on the fact that race fans were watching their “pennies” and staying home. The prevailing feeling then was that the TV ratings would hold up or even get better.
Obviously, that projection didn’t hold up. All this has to be a top concern in the NASCAR front office. We are not sure of what’s causing this? It could be a combination of things. Like the COT, boring races and/or the newer fickle fans that have abandoned NASCAR for something else. Also, the older fans are also not watching the NASCAR races because of their displeasure of the club’s marketing strategy to attract the younger crowd and all of the trappings that went with it turned them off.
We think it’s time for NASCAR to revisit and readjust their business plan. Because it appears that the TV ratings are not going to get any better as we move closer to the half-way point in the season unless there are some changes. However, changes now may not reverse the trend as quickly as the Daytona based organization would like.
ESPN’s coverage of NASCAR earned its 19th Sports Emmy Award, among five presented to ESPN by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Monday night in New York.
The NASCAR award was for Technical Team Studio in the 2008 season and honored the ESPN Pit Studio and Craftsman Tech Garage, two mobile studio facilities utilized across ESPN platforms.
“We’re humbled that our efforts associated with both the ESPN Pit Studio and the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage were recognized,” said Rich Feinberg, ESPN vice president, motorsports. “Both are unique in our industry and are used as key elements of our NASCAR coverage.”
For its NASCAR Countdown studio shows that precede all NASCAR race telecasts, ESPN originates from the Pit Studio. The studio, which weighs nearly 78,000 pounds and travels all season, allows ESPN to bring the look and feel of its Bristol, Conn.,-based studio shows such as SportsCenter and Sunday NFL Countdown to the tracks. Host Allen Bestwick and analysts Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty man the pit studio for ESPN.
The mobile pit studio is outfitted with state-of-the-art LED lighting, robotic HD cameras and a dramatic, contoured, video display fronting the anchor desk. Situated near the pits at every track, the studio is elevated 14 feet while in use and 30 foot glass windows give viewers a look at the cars, grandstands and pageantry prior to the race start.
The ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage is an enclosed studio that contains two ESPN Chevy Cutaway Cars. The studio also has room for displays of other racecar elements such as engines, transmissions and shock absorbers. ESPN’s Tim Brewer, a two-time NASCAR champion crew chief, and other ESPN analysts report from the Tech Garage during race telecasts to help viewers better understand the technical and mechanical aspects of NASCAR racing.
The ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage allows ESPN to present segments in the telecasts that originate from an enclosed, controlled environment with no exterior interference, adding to the viewing experience and giving NASCAR fans more information.
ESPN has now won 128 Sports Emmy Awards in 21 years of eligibility.
Formula One team McLaren could run into problems with both its engine partner and sponsors if it is hit with a major penalty at next week’s World Motor Sport Council hearing, admitted its CEO. McLaren was summoned to appear before the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council on April 29 to answer charges that it brought Formula 1 into disrepute over ‘deliberately misleading’ stewards. The misdemeanor was alleged to have happened with regards to Jarno Trulli overtaking Lewis Hamilton behind the safety car in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix.
Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler AG, said that “an unreasonable punishment” could result in Mercedes re-evaluating its position as engine supplier to the team.
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren’s CEO, told Autosport: “There have been some comments that I might be asked about from Dr Zetsche in Daimler and my reaction to this is you would expect in these times any of our sponsors to be prudent about what they are doing.” “Noone could commit to being with us for many, many years at the moment beyond their existing contract, and we’re realistic in that regard. But clearly we’ve got to do a better job in all sorts of departments.” It is believed McLaren will be given a two-race ban by the Council at Wednesday’s hearing. This came from Sports BusinessInternational.
The iSport International team that raced in the GP2 feeder series last year is considering entering a team into Formula One next season, according to its founder Paul Jackson. Jackson told Germany’s motorsport-magazin.com website that his team is a serious contender for entry on the basis that a budget cap will be introduced for the 2010 season.
“I aim to give a few people in Formula One a kick up the backside and to show them that they are chucking money out of the window for nothing,” Jackson said. “The existing teams aren’t structured to operate within a £30 million budget, so it would probably be better to start with a blank sheet.”
Governing body for motorsport the International Automobile Federation (FIA) is currently in discussion with current teams over a proposed optional budget cap from next year. Those accepting a cap would be granted greater technical freedom compared to the restrictions imposed on teams continuing with unlimited budgets.
Jackson also said iSport were contemplating either an independent entry using their GP2 engineers or joining forces with a team already on the Formula One starting grid.
FIA president Max Mosley has said three new teams will be selected from those expressing an interest to enter with a budget cap. Current contenders for entry next year include Lola, Aston Martin and Prodrive chairman David Richards, and a planned US-based team. This item came from SportsBusinessInternational.
A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has been forced to cancel round eight of the 2008/09 seasons in Mexico City on 22-24 May after the recent outbreak of swine flu. The A1GP cargo was due to be flown out to Mexico directly after the Brands Hatch race this weekend but advice from the UK Foreign Office to cancel non-essential travel to the country prevented this from happening.
“To say we are disappointed to have to make this call is an understatement,” said A1GP Chairman Tony Teixeira. “When the news of the health problems broke last week we made sure we kept ourselves up to date with the latest information. We must have the safety of all members of the A1GP community as well as the thousands of loyal fans in Mexico City as our prime concern.”
“If we had flown our cars out and not been able to send the teams to run them it would have been a waste of time and money. However, this cancellation does not impact on the future of the series and once Brands Hatch is over we shall be concentrating on Season Five, for which plans are already well advanced.”
The cancellation forces the A1GP race at Brands Hatch to be the final round of the championship with three teams – A1Team Switzerland, A1 Team Ireland and A1 Team Portugal – able to claim the title. Cases of swine flu, which originated in Mexico, have been confirmed in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Israel, Britain, Spain and Germany. At least 10 golfers have withdrawn from a Canadian Tour event in Mexico, and teams of Chinese and Malaysian divers have scrapped plans to compete in the United States, all due to the epidemic. This came from SportsBusinessInternational.
CEO of Formula One Management (FOM) Bernie Ecclestone has said he plans to halve the prize money paid to teams unless they sign a contract committing them to race. According to UK business newspaper the Financial Times, Ecclestone plans to use the money saved to reduce hosting fees paid by circuits. “They [the teams] want to be paid in the same manner as if they had agreed to be committed [to race] for five years but they don’t want to be committed,” he said. “They shouldn’t get the prize money. We are now running more of a cash-on-delivery service. You sign the contract and we will pay you in full.”
International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley also said this week that Formula One teams will definitely have a budget cap next year, although it will be set above the proposed £30 million ($45 million).
Mosley has previously suggested introducing an optional cap, with teams that accept it being granted greater technical freedom than those with unlimited budgets.
“Everything is going ahead as planned. It’s a little bit more than £30 million but we have been successful,” he told reporters after a meeting of the governing body’s world motor sport council. Mosley added that the cap was essential “if we are not going to lose a lot of the teams” and to attract new entrants to the sport. This also came from SportsBusinessInternational.
X2 Motorsports Group, a division of Steep Hill Media, is proud to announce the opening of the Speed Factory presented by ampm.
Speed Factory will consist of an indoor motocross track, two (2) indoor karting tracks, motorcycle retail area, three (3) conference rooms and a sports bar. The facility is located just 20 miles north of Sacramento in Lincoln, California.
Speed Factory’s building is roughly 100,000 sq ft with the arena cross style track taking up 35,000 sq ft of dirt, larger than your average arena cross track. The kart tracks will include one road course and a circle track for drifting. Once a month Speed Factory will host “road racing night” with 50’s on the karting track. The retail area is similar in size to your average dealership carrying only the top brands like FMF, Fox, Vortex, Ogio and selected others. The sports bar will be located upstairs, overlooking the karting tracks, serving your favorite adult beverages.
The target opening date for the motocross track will be May 28, 2009, with the karting tracks and retail area opening 45 days later. Speed Factory will be hosting an Open House at the facility the entire weekend of the Hangtown National located about 30 miles North-West of the Hangtown MX track.
“Our vision was to combine everything we enjoy doing and placing it all in one building”, said founder Brent Davis. And we couldn’t be any happier having the great partners we have behind this project. ampm is known for “Too Much Good Stuff”, and we have a similar goal with all the speed related racing activities we have combined.
Yes, He Really Said That-from the Valvoline Track Talk Newsletter, Mark Martin, on Dale Earnhardt Jr. “Junior is good at dealing with pressure because he walks around with the weight of NASCAR on his shoulders every day. I really admire Junior for the enormous load that he carries gracefully all the time.”
Here’s what’s happening this week on TV in terms of gear head action. ESPN2 offers NASCAR Now at 5 p.m. from Monday through Thursday. Friday has significant racing action starting at 8 a.m. with Speed airing F1 Practice from Spain. At 11:30 a.m. Speed offers Cup Practice from Darlington followed by Final Practice at 1:30 p.m. Nationwide Qualifying goes on Speed at 3 p.m. ESPN2 airs NASCAR Now at 4:30 p.m. At 5 p.m. Speed airs Cup Qualifying from Darlington and hooks up with TSN at 7:30 p.m. to offer the Nationwide race from that track.
Saturday is also busy with 8 a.m. Qualifying session of the Spanish GP on Speed. The Duce returns at 10 a.m. with NASCAR Now with VS kicking in at noon airing Pole Day from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Speed returns at the same time with the Grand Am race from NJ Motorsports Park. Speed schedules NASCAR RaceDay at 5 p.m. while Fox/TSN each offer the Cup Southern 500 race from Darlington at 7:30 p.m. Speed goes with a 10 p.m. offering of the AMA SuperBike race from Birmingham, AL.
Mother’s Day, Sunday will still be busy even though there isn’t a NASCAR event. At 6 a.m. the GP2 race airs from Spain followed by the F1 GP of Spain at 7:55 a.m. on Speed and TSN. VS returns with more Indy 500 Qualifying at noon. Speed offers a 4 p.m. airing of the FIM Superbike races from Italy and the second event at 5 p.m. The Speed Report is at 7 p.m. on the Speed Channel followed by NASCAR Victory Lane at 8 p.m. and then Wind Tunnel at 9 p.m. hosted by Dave Despain. (END)
NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES, NOTES AND OTHER SOURCES.
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